For those new to this blog, it is inspired by the infamous words of T.S. Eliot’s poem Little Gidding. The poem ends beautifully by stating:

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Eliot became a Christian in his late thirties and his poetry and plays were infused with his beliefs about faith and how that faith should impact a person. This poem which I quote above is obviously about a person finding a relationship with Jesus, and therefore, “in the end,” finding themselves for the first time.

For me, Eliot’s poetry has a haunting feature about it, because every now and then he states something in a sublime and thoughtful manner, which makes you…well…think about what he said. As Johan Bergstrom-Allen wrote, “Christian artists and writers have often had much to teach Christians about the world around them. They express the mysteries of faith in a more concise and beautiful way than many traditional theologians.” For me, this defines T.S. Eliot as a writer and as a Christian.

Here are some selections from “The Choruses from the Rock” (you can google the title if you would like to read the entire poem); read some of these verses that speak in a proverbial and profound way. In some ways, this selection might remind you of the book of Ecclesiastes–verses that you need to read a couple of times through to understand what he is attempting to say. In this sense, you can also think of Jesus speaking in parables. He wants you to really listen and not just quickly read over the words. He wants you to hear the message he is trying to speak. As the poem ends, a good question to ask yourself: Who do you think Eliot was referring to as “the Stranger?” Who is this person who knows how to ask the best questions?